TulsaPets Magazine January 2023

30 TulsaPets • January / February 2023 Not So Darling? Starlings Mix Obnoxious and Redeeming Traits by Kim Doner H istorically, many immigrants to the New World had no qualms about wagging familiars from home with them, whether the effects proved benign or catastrophic for America’s native populations. Everything from measles to kudzu has invaded and flourished. I’m going to address one, however, that has received grudging acceptance — which is wise on behalf of bird lovers, being as how not a whole lot can be done to control the population anyway. It’s a case of might as well here, so let’s look at some positives, if for no other reason than comfort. I’m referring to starlings. Starlings Are Generally Obnoxious I can feel the vibes from my bird-nerd buddies as they shudder upon reading the word. Starlings are right up there with En- glish sparrows as far as being heartily dis- liked; they are loud, awkward, messy, and aggressive. They gang up and bully other birds, steal their food, trash their habitat, and don’t hesitate to assert dominance. In short, bird fans consider them pests (at best), and many people believe they should be treated as such. But maybe not. I can fully agree that starlings are in general pretty obnoxious. It’s fitting that their Latin name is Sturnus vulgaris. Stocky, robin-sized, and speckled with an iridescent feather pattern over dark gray- to-charcoal plumage, these guys seldom appear solo. Sociable starlings band togeth- er in large groups, with popular terms for such being a chattering, a clutter, a filth, a scourge, and a vulgarity. Their diets are focused mainly on fruits and insects, but they can survive on almost anything (possessing disposable enzymes that allow them to rapidly break down alcohol) and hence are often referred to as trash birds. Starlings lay as many as seven bluish to greenish eggs and often choose to build a large, sloppy nest inside a drainpipe, your attic, your laundry vent, or anywhere else where clogging up a crevice will create a nuisance and/or smell. Starlings Have Redeeming Traits However…. (As promised, there are some positives here.) Let me share some redeem- ing traits. First, starlings are quite intelligent (my personal bias: I like intelligent animals). Stories differ as to their arrival on the continent. It was possibly because French scientist/scholar Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (whoa! It took a while to type that!) traveled through Ohio in 1815 or maybe it was in the 1890s (a time when certain politicians believed the United States needed all birds mentioned by Shakespeare), but the fact remains that 60 or more of these guys were released in New York City’s Central Park in 1890 by Shakespearean fan Eugene Schieffelin, of the American Acclimatization Society. Unlike several other species that didn’t fare so well, starlings thrived.